National Statistics Institute - INE Spain

Directorate for Short-Term Statistics

Avenida de Manoteras 50-52 / 28050 MADRID SPAIN

The harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) is a consumer price index (CPI) that is calculated according to a harmonised approach. It measures the change over time of the prices of consumer goods and services acquired by households (inflation).

Due to the common methodology, the HICPs of the countries and European aggregates can be directly compared.

European classification of individual consumption according to purpose (ECOICOP)

The HICP covers the final monetary consumption expenditure of the household sector.

The main statistical variables are price indices.

The basic unit of statistical observation are prices for consumer products.

3.6.1. Statistical target population

The target statistical universe is the 'household final monetary consumption expenditure' (HFMCE) on the economic territory of the country by both resident and non-resident households. The household sector to which the definition refers, includes all individuals or groups of individuals irrespective of, in particular, the type of area in which they live, their position in the income distribution and their nationality or residence status. These definitions follow the national accounts concepts in the European System of Accounts.

3.6.2. Coverage error population

There are no national deviations from the target population in the Spanish HICP.

3.7.1. Geographical coverage

The HICP refers to the economic territory of a country as referred to in paragraph 2.05 of Annex A to ESA 2010, with the exception that the extraterritorial enclaves situated within the boundaries of a Member State or a country are included and the territorial enclaves situated in the rest of the world are excluded.

3.7.2. Coverage error regions

The Spanish HICP covers the whole national territory; no parts of the country are excluded from the index.

3.8.1. Start of time series

The HICP series started in January 1997.

3.8.2. Start of time series - national specifics

The Spanish HICP time series start in January 1997.

2015=100

The following units are used:

• Index point
• Percentage change on the same period of the previous year (rates);
• Percentage change on the previous period (rates);
• Percentage share of the total (weights).

HICP is a monthly statistics.

Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (HICPs) are harmonised inflation figures required under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Regulation (EU) 2016/792 of the European Parliament and the Council of 11 May 2016 (OJ L 135) sets the legal basis for establishing a harmonised methodology for the compilation of the HICP and the HICP-CT.

This regulation is implemented by Commission Regulation (EU) 2020/1148 of 31 July 2020.

Further documentation, can be found in Eurostat’s website - HICP dedicated section, namely recommendations on specific topics, under the methodology page, and guidelines, under the quality page.

HICP data are transmitted to Eurostat monthly, in order to produce the aggregates for the European Union (EU) and euro area (EA).

In accordance with Law 12/1989, of 9 May, on public statistical services ('Ley de la Función Estadística Pública'), the National Statistics Office (INE) is obliged to protect the privacy of individual respondents. Neither individual nor aggregate data that may lead to identify single statistical units can be disseminated or made available by any means. The Statistical Law No. 12/1989 specifies that the INE cannot publish, or make otherwise available, individual data or statistics that would enable the identification of data for any individual person or entity.

In addition, Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 11 March 2009, on European statistics stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

The legal act Ley de la Función Pública, Chapter III on Confidentiality.

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 11 March 2009, on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

All HICP data below 5-digit ECOICOP level are confidential (prices, weights, item descriptions, etc.) to protect the data and prevent meddling.

The National Statistics Institute (INE) adopts the necessary measures to protect the confidentiality of the data provided by respondents throughout the whole statistical process, from the data collection to the dissemination of results.

Every questionnaire includes a disclosure statement in which respondents are informed of the purpose of the survey and the legal obligation of public statistical services to protect the confidentiality of the data provided, as they are requested only for statistical purposes.

During the data processing, all the information that may lead to identify individual respondents is preserved only while strictly necessary. This information cannot be disseminated by any means, therefore during the last stages of each survey all the results that are intended for publication are revised in depth so that the privacy of respondents is guaranteed.

Where microdata files are disseminated, these are always anonymous. However, for the HICP only aggregate data are published, which precludes the identification of microdata.

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see point 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

The HICP is released according to Eurostat’s Release calendar.

The calendar is publically available and published at the end of the year for the full following year.

INEbase / INE Statistics availability calendar, including HICP/CPI release calendar.

HICP figures are disseminated in a press release and in the database on a monthly basis. The channels of dissemination for such data are the website, emails and Twitter.

The data are disseminated in Spanish and English down to 5-digit ECOICOP level.

In accordance with the European Statistics Code of Practice, 'all users have equal access to statistical releases at the same time. Any privileged pre-release access to any outside user is limited, well-justified, controlled and publicised'. As a result, some statistics (in particular the HICP) are transmitted under embargo to the appointed body, the Secretariat of State for Economic Affairs and Business Support of the Ministry of Economy and Business, some hours in advance of the official release.

Likewise, most of the Central Statistics Offices of the Autonomous Communities (OCECA) receive information on the HICP under embargo before the publication, in line with the Multilateral Working Agreement and under the protection of the relevant regulations in terms of confidentiality.

In addition, the HICP press release is transmitted under embargo to a small number of news agencies, 30 minutes prior to the official time of dissemination.

Monthly

Both the HICP and the Flash Estimate are disseminated online, according to a pre-announced schedule.

The HICP data are included in the national CPI press release, in the following three sections:

• The HICP annual change is included in the heading.
• The main rates of change of the overall HICP at national level are highlighted in the text and compared to HICP-CT data and Euro area aggregates.
• There are two tables containing more detailed HICP indices and rates of change, for the 12 ECOICOP divisions and the overall HICP-CT.

There is also a special news release for the Flash Estimate, in which overall price changes are briefly explained.

All the HICP and HICP-CT indices and rates of change are disseminated monthly in the HICP database of INE website, for all ECOICOP sub-indices and six special aggregates. Besides, the main HICP and HICP-CT data are included in the press release that is regularly issued for the national CPI.

The main data are published in the homepage, together with links to the corresponding press releases and dedicated sections.

In addition, annual averages and weights are disseminated yearly.

INEbase / Standard of living and living conditions (CPI) /Consumer price and housing indices /Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices / Results/ Monthly

No HICP microdata are disseminated or accessible for special users.

In addition to the regular publications, a special press release is issued whenever there is an important methodological change (e.g. a new treatment for seasonal products).

The HICP Methodological Manual provides the reference methodology for the production of HICP. (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-manuals-and-guidelines/-/KS-GQ-17-015)

10.6.1. Documentation on methodology - national specifics

Link to HICP methodology section.

Link to national HICP metadata.

Link to national HICP methodology, base 2015.

All the documentation on quality management is available in a dedicated section in INE website. The following documents are included:

• Quality reports and indicators
• User surveys
• Peer Review external evaluations
• Statistical dissemination policy (including the distribution of statistical results under embargo)
• Confidentiality policy
• Revision policy

Also other components of INE quality system are explained, such as the institutional structure, a letter of services and the quality assessment and management within the Administration in Spain.

See INE quality management dedicated section for further information.

European Statistics Code of Practice - 2017

11.1.1. Quality management - Compliance Monitoring

Compliance Monitoring

11.1.2. Quality assurance - national specifics

In order to control the quality of the information collected, there is a plan of inspection visits to respondent establishments.

In the delegations, the inspection works correspond to the interviewer inspector, and to the survey inspector. As a basic criterion, they should visit every establishment that is providing information for the first time, as well as those that the interviewer has found to be unwilling to cooperate.

In the visits to establishments, the suitability and representativeness of the same are determined, whether the articles from which the prices are collected comply with the specifications, and whether those prices are correct. They also check the degree of cooperation of the respondents, and whether the visits of the interviewer are made in an adequate manner and on the established dates.

Likewise, there is another systematic inspection established by the Central Services of the INE, which requires the monthly inspection of a certain percentage of the establishments. The survey inspector must send a report regarding said inspection in which s/he indicates the establishments, articles and interviewers inspected, as well as the discrepancies observed.

Visits, when deemed necessary, are also made to the delegations by the technicians of the Central Services, from the CPI Area, responsible for the control of the prices collected in the delegations, in which they check the suitability of the sample selected, the mechanism of the work carried out monthly. Likewise, during these visits, all of the issues raised by the working team of the delegation are resolved, and all of the changes considered pertinent for improving the quality of the survey are proposed.

Finally, worth noting is that repeated interviews are carried out continuously via moving agents from the Central Services, to check the quality of the data obtained.

In addition, the Head of Unit is continuously monitoring the process, solving collection and editing problems, answering queries and analysing the results.

General practices are explained in the Quality management section on INE website. 

11.2.1. Compliance monitoring - last report and main results

Eurostat’s compliance and follow-up reports for the Spanish HICP can be found in the webpage Quality - Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (HICP) - Eurostat (europa.eu)

11.2.2. Quality assessment - national specifics

In order to assess the quality of statistics, a set of quality indicators is regularly produced and most of them are available to users.

In particular, for the HICP the results for 2022 are the following:

• Data completeness rate R1 = 100%
• Sampling error indicator (coefficient of variation) A1 = N/A
• Over-coverage rate A2 = N/A
• Common units proportion between survey data and administrative sources A3 = N/A
• Unit non-response rate A4 = N/A
• Item non-response rate A5 = 3.9%
• Data revision average size A6 = N/A
• Imputation rate A7 = 1.3%
• Time lag - first results (between reference period and publication of first results) TP1 = -2 days
• Time lag - final results (between reference period and publication date of final results) TP2 = 13 days
• Punctuality - delivery and publication TP3 = 100%
• Length of comparable time series CC2 = 334
• Data consultation AC1 = 276,381
• Metadata consultation AC2 = 3,955
• Metadata completeness rate AC3 = 100%

See Quality management section on INE website for further information.

In addition to being a general measure of inflation, the HICP is also used in the areas of:

• wages, social benefit and contract indexation;
• economic forecasting and analysis;
• measuring specific price trends;
• accounting purposes and deflating other series;
• inflation targeting by central banks;
• cross-country economic comparisons.

The euro area (evolving composition) index is used by the European Central Bank (ECB) as the main indicator for monetary policy management. The ECB and the European Commission's Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN) use the HICP for assessing price stability and price convergence required for entry into European Monetary Union.

Other users include: National Central Banks, financial institutions, economic analysts, the media and the public at large.

12.1.1. User Needs - national specifics

The main users of the HICP are the European Central Bank (ECB), the Spanish Central Bank (Banco de España, BDE), the Ministry of Finance, EU institutions, financial institutions and economic analysts.

The most important use is the comparison of inflation between EU and EA countries.

Also HICP data are used in the production of Purchasing Power Parities and the Competitiveness Guarantee Index, which is calculated in order to comply with the requirements established by Law 2/2015, of 30 March, on deindexation in the Spanish economy.

General user satisfaction surveys were launched in 2007 and are regularly conducted on a three-year basis. Their main purpose is knowing about user perceptions on statistics with respect to the quality of the information and the extent to which they meet user needs. In addition, other specific surveys are conducted in order to research into concrete aspects, such as dissemination or special publications.

The HICP is one of the most valuable surveys in terms of user satisfaction.

The User Satisfaction Survey 2019 provides a user satisfaction index, that results in 4.36 points over 5 for the CPI, which means the CPI is the most valuable statistical product from INE, according to respondents.

Regarding relevance, the percentage of positive and very positive valuations over the total is around 90.0% for the CPI.

In addition to the Price Statistics Working Group and all other related forums at European level, there is a specific working group for the Spanish CPI in which the Ministry of Finance, the Presidential Office, the Spanish Central Bank ('Banco de España'), trade unions, consumer associations and universities participate.

All significant ECOICOP sub-indices are produced and published.

The accuracy and reliability of the HICP are achieved combining price collection methods with outlet selection (according to popularity and turnover) and item selection (according to consumption).

Sampling errors are not calculated because the HICP sample is based on non-probability methods.

Non-probability sampling is used because there is no available information either on expenditure in outlets or on expenditure on products in outlets.

The number of prices collected is as high as possible in order to minimise sampling errors.

Non-sampling errors are not quantified. Some software applications have been developed to detect and reduce potential errors in the collection process.

Field inspections are carried out regularly to detect inappropriate practices.

The full set of HICPs is published each month according to Eurostat’s Release calendar, usually between 15 and 18 days after the end of the reference month.

Each year, the January release is published at the end of February to allow for the annual update of the weights, both of individual product groups and the relative country weights of Members States in the country group aggregates.

The euro area flash estimate is published on the last working day of the reference month or shortly after that.

Since the March 1997, launch of the HICP release, the HICP for the country groups aggregates has always been published on the dates announced in Eurostat’s Release calendar.

HICPs across Member States aim to be comparable. Any differences at all levels of detail should only reflect differences in price changes or expenditure patterns.

To this end, concepts and methods have been harmonised by means of legislation. HICPs that deviate from these concepts and methods are deemed comparable if they result in an index that is estimated to differ systematically by less than or equal to 0.1 percentage points on average over one year against the previous year (Article 4 of Council and Parliament Regulation (EU) 2016/792).

HICP data are fully comparable over time. There have been several improvements in methodology since the HICP was introduced with the aim of increasing its reliability and comparability.

The introduction of reduced prices (in 2002), the implementation of the new treatment for seasonal products (in 2011) and the reallocation of some items due to the implementation of the ECOICOP (in 2015) caused a break in the index series. As a result, the HICP indices were revised one year backwards, applying the new methodology, in order to produce consistent rates of change during the first year of implementation.

The HICP is consistent with the national CPI, which is also produced by INE.

Nevertheless, the two indices are produced for different purposes and therefore present some differences in methodology and coverage:

• Consumption expenditures of residents in institutional households and of non-residents within the economic territory of the country are included in the HICP but not in the national CPI.
• The expenditure of national residents abroad is included in the national CPI but excluded from the HICP.
• For clothing and footwear seasonal products, out-of-season prices are estimated for the HICP but carried forward for the CPI.
• The HICP base year is 2015=100 but the CPI base year is 2021=100.
• Games of chance are included in the CPI but not in the HICP.

The HICPs are internally coherent. Higher level aggregations are derived from detailed indices according to well-defined procedures.

Not available

The HICP series, including back data, is revisable under the terms set in Articles 17-20 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1148.

17.1.1. Data revision - policy - national specifics

The Spanish HICP data may be revised due to mistakes or where changes introduced by a regulation produce incomparability; then the indices are revised one year backwards in order to produce consistent rates of change during the first year of implementation.

On the contrary, the national CPI data are not revised.

The Spanish HICP data are not revised, except where changes introduced by a Regulation produce incomparability. Then the indices for the previous year are revised in order to produce consistent rates of change.

The HICP series have been revised three times:

• in 2002 due to the introduction of price reductions,
• in 2011 because of the change in the treatment for seasonal products and
• in 2015 due to the reallocation of some items in the implementation of the ECOICOP classification.

18.1.1. Weights

Explicit weights are introduced at elementary aggregate level, which in Spain is determined by items and provinces. The main sources of information for the HICP weights compilation are the Spanish National Accounts and the Household Budget Survey.
For the scanner data weights the source is the scanner data file itself.

18.1.1.1. Compilation at elementary aggregate level

Explicit weights are introduced at elementary aggregate level, which in Spain is determined by items (one additional national level below 5-digit ECOICOP) and provinces. Nevertheless there are weights at lower breakdown levels for some centrally collected products, e.g. for companies or consumer profiles.

Outlets are not explicitly weighted (since January 2020 the scanner data for one chain has been included in the HICP, and in January 2021 another chain more has been included, therefore for these chains and for the items in which the scanner data are applied, there are explicit weights). At these levels, unweighted geometric mean prices are calculated to enter the index compilation, as well as for product varieties within elementary aggregates.

Upper weights are calculated basing on the information provided by National Accounts data. Where these sources do not suffice, other reliable information (e.g. from companies or trade associations) is applied to complete the information and compile the corresponding weights.

In those cases where there is no quantitative information available, equal weights are applied to those elementary aggregates that are deemed to have the same importance within a sub-index division; otherwise, proportional weights are used.

HICP weights are deeply revised and updated every 5 years at all levels, from ECOICOP divisions down to the most detailed level (elementary aggregates).

18.1.1.2. Compilation of sub-index weights

The main sources of information for the HICP weights compilation at ECOICOP level are the Household Budget Survey (HBS) and preliminary National Accounts data on Household Final Monetary Consumption Expenditure.

For the scanner data weights the source is the scanner data file itself.

HICP weights enter the index compilation through weighted arithmetic mean formulae at ECOICOP level (and type of level and ECOICOP level for scanner data). Variations in sub-index weights are obtained from National Accounts data for (t-2) and updated to December (t-1) and applied down to 5-digit ECOICOP level.

18.1.1.3. Compilation of sub-index weights

HICP weights are calculated down to 5-digit ECOICOP level basing on data from year (t-2) that are subsequently updated to December of (t-1). For the breakdown levels below, weights are updated proportionally on a yearly basis.

For scanner data, HICP weights are calculated down to 5-digit ECOICOP for type of outlet (hypermarket, medium supermarket and small supermarket) basing on data from year (t-1).

18.1.1.4. Weights – plausibility checking

The plausibility of the HICP weights is checked during both the annual updating process and the five-year revision of weights at lower levels. As the HICP weights are estimated using information from different data sources, the consistency between them is verified; for those inconsistencies that may appear, further research is made in order to determine the causes and treat the information in question accordingly.

18.1.1.5. Price updating

In general, HICP weights are price-updated to December (t-1) price level, but other price developments are also considered and applied where appropriate (e.g. previous year’s average price level), as well as information on quantities, basing on the information provided by data sources on supply.

 For the price updating the relative change of the prices of December t-1 of the 5-digit ECOICOP over the whole HICP is applied.

18.1.1.6. Compilation of total household final monetary consumption expenditure

Estimates on HFMCE by ECOICOP referred to the year 2022 come from the QNA estimates. In the case of the 4th quarter of 2022, the best available estimate resulting from the sources and methods used in the flash GDP estimates has been used (see the detailed Inventory of Sources and Methods in https://www.ine.es/en/daco/daco42/daco4214/inventario_fuentes_metodos_en.pdf).

For FISIM and prostitution estimates, the average weight of the HFCE in these ECOICOPs in the last four years has been kept.

18.1.2. Prices

Price data are surveyed, using purposive sampling.

18.1.2.1. Data Source - overview  

Price data are surveyed, using purposive sampling. Most prices are collected by personal visits to outlets but also other methods are applied: internet, email, telephone calls, prices from official journals and data provided by companies. 

From January 2020 scanner data are included for one chain and the next ECOICOP levels:

- 01. Food and non-alcoholic beverages (excluding unprocessed food).
- 02.1. Alcoholic beverages.
- 05.6.1. Non durable household goods.
- 06.1.2. Other medical products.
- 09.3.4.2. Products for pets
- 12.1.3 Other appliances, articles and products for personal care.

18.1.2.2. Scanner data - general information

Scanner data is implemented in the Spanish HICP from January 2020 for one retailer (for their hypermarkets and medium and small supermarkets), which has around 8% of expenditure share.

In January 2021 the data of another retailer has been included, with an expenditure share of around 3%

18.1.2.3. Web scraping - general information

Web scraping has been implemented in some accommodation services (short-stay accommodation in secondary residences) in 2022.

18.1.3. Sampling

18.1.3.1. Sampling design: locations for survey

The Spanish territory is organised in 17 regions, called autonomous communities, and 2 autonomous cities (Ceuta and Melilla). Autonomous communities are in turn divided into provinces (a total of 50).

In addition to the head office, there are 52 regional offices. In general terms, regional offices are in charge of local price collection and recording but central collection is carried out in the head office, as well as the index compilation and dissemination.

Prices are collected in all provinces for the same basket of goods and services, except for those items that are not significant in a province; there are also some special items only for the Canary Islands. The sample is designed according to representativity criteria.

18.1.3.2. Sampling design: outlets

In broad terms, the number of outlets in the sample is determined according to the weight and price variability of each item in the basket (the higher they are, the bigger is the number of outlets), always with a minimum threshold that is defined for each province basing on the type of item and the corresponding type of price collection.

Department stores, hypermarkets, supermarkets, franchised chains, traditional groceries, market places and specialty stores are included in the sample.

Street market stalls, mail order and convenience stores in petrol stations are excluded.

18.1.3.3. Sampling design: newly significant goods and services

Newly significant goods and services are identified basing on field information as well as other data sources, such as the press or consumers associations; also the expertise of the HICP personnel on consumption is taken into account.

They are introduced in the index compilation in December, in the corresponding ECOICOP subclass, using a chain index formula. In order to measure the significance level for these new products, we seek information from data sources of the relevant sector.

In 2019, actual rentals for secondary residences (CP04121) and dental prosthesis (CP06139) were introduced in the index.

In 2022, other medical products n.e.c. (CP06129), accessories for personal transport equipment (CP07213), pilates/yoga classes (CP0941202) and newspaper digital subscription (CP0952103) were introduced in the index.

Price data is collected every month.

18.3.1. Price collection surveys

Prices are collected on paper questionnaires (except for the scanner data items), by personal visits to outlets. Product descriptions and justifications for price changes (e.g. discounts) are also filled in.

During 2023 this collection method will change to collection through electronic devices.

18.3.2. Timing of price collection

In general, regional price collection takes place during the first 22 days every month. For some centrally collected items, prices are observed during the whole month (e.g. electricity and tobacco). For scanner data the data of the three central weeks are included.

Questionnaires are recorded and first validated in regional offices. All necessary control criteria are established in order to ensure the adequate quality level during the whole process. As a result, eventual recording mistakes are monitored from the beginning (the software application detects price changes exceeding a threshold).

After price collection and data recording, all price changes beyond a threshold are checked and validated in regional offices.

In addition, double price collections are carried out occasionally in order to ensure the quality and correctness of the data.

18.4.1. Data validation - price data

Collected prices are first validated in regional offices during the recording stage and all significant price changes must be checked and explained. They are subsequently edited and validated again at central level.

There are field inspections in which both outlets and product specifications are checked and confirmed. Where there are any mistakes in recorded prices, they are corrected basing on the available information or else, where there is none, they are estimated.

There are also automatic and manual controls for the recording and validation of the data, which are mainly applied to detect outliers.

For collected prices, significant variations (over ±10%) are flagged and must be explained by price collectors. Then prices are edited and checked for significant price changes (over ±10% or causing a big impact) and subsequently validated, basing on the information that is recorded for all flagged observations. Regional offices are asked for further explanations when needed, in order to confirm, adjust or reject the relevant observations.

18.5.1. Elementary price index formulae

The Spanish HICP is a Laspeyres-type chain index.

At elementary aggregate level, HICP indices are compiled using the Jevons formula (i.e. a geometric mean formula) in order to avoid the effects of price levels within elementary aggregates.

Observed prices are recorded with 2 decimals and final prices (i.e. after adjusting for quality changes) are compiled with 12 decimals. Weights are estimated with 12 decimals.

HICP indices are compiled and transmitted with 12 decimals, but subsequently rounded to 2 decimals for compiling rates of change and publishing. In turn, the rates of change are rounded to 1 decimal for publishing.

Rounding is applied for shortening the number of decimals in all cases.

18.5.2. Aggregation of different data sources

The aggregation steps, from bottom up, are the following;

1. Average prices are first compiled at province level, using unweighted geometric mean formulas.
2. Elementary indices are secondly compiled at elementary aggregate level, as a quotient of average prices, with reference to December of the previous year.
3. Elementary indices are subsequently aggregated to obtain the indices for geographical or functional upper aggregates (where applicable), using weighted arithmetic mean formulas.
4. Aggregate indices are finally chained to the base year.

18.5.3. Chaining, linking and splicing methods

Aggregate indices are chained to the base year multiplying the indices for month m referred to December (t-1) by the indices for December (t-1) with reference to the base year (divided by 100).

As a chain index formula is applied, there is no splicing.

18.5.4. Quality adjustment – Detailed information

The different quality adjustment methods that are commonly applied in the Spanish HICP can be summarised as follows:

• Implicit methods: overlap, bridged overlap, class mean imputation, direct comparison, link-to-show-no price change.
• Explicit methods: expert judgement, option costs and quantity adjustment.

All the items in the HICP basket are grouped by 'types', according to similar features, and there is a list of advised and unadmitted quality adjustment methods for each, depending on product features.

Quality adjustment procedures are applied every time there is a replacement, in order to assess whether there is any quality difference and decide the most appropriate treatment accordingly.

The percentage of prices for which each method is applied is not available because adjustments for quality changes are not counted. Nevertheless, the quality adjustment methods that are usually applied by groups of products are the following:

• Fast-moving consumer goods (food, medicines and personal care products)
  • Price imputation, direct comparison and quantity adjustments.
  • Also class mean imputation and expert judgement for fresh products (meat, fish, fruit, vegetables and eggs)
• Centrally collected products
  • Expert judgement, overlap, option pricing.
• Clothing and footwear
  • Direct comparison, bridged overlap, class mean imputation, expert judgement.
• Furniture, household appliances and equipment
  • Expert judgement.
• Restaurants
  • Overlap and price imputation.

18.5.5. Seasonal items

In the Spanish HICP, there are two main groups of seasonal products. The first one includes some fresh fruit and fresh vegetables, and the second one includes most of the items of clothing and footwear.

Therefore the special treatment for seasonal products is applied in the following ECOICOP sub-classes:

01161 Fresh or chilled fruit
01171 Fresh or chilled vegetables other than potatoes and other tubers

03121 Garments for men
03122 Garments for women
03123 Garments for infants (0 to 2 years) and children (3 to 13 years)


03131 Other articles of clothing

03211 Footwear for men
03212 Footwear for women
03213 Footwear for infants and children

Prices for products that are out of season are estimated, using the average price change of the rest of products in the sub-class that are available (all-seasonal estimation). The indices are compiled using strict annual weights.

Not applicable.

None.